Throwing Off Sparks
by forgedpaintings
Summary: When the group goes on a camping trip with hopes of winning a horror movie contest, Jeff finally confronts his unresolved feelings towards Annie.
1. Chapter 1

The study group, minus Troy and Abed, have been in the study room for over thirty minutes now. Everyone has been getting increasingly bored and restless waiting for them to show up, until finally Jeff voices what they've all been thinking.

"You guys, they obviously aren't coming. Let's just go home."

It's only Annie who objects. "Well.. they told us to come here and it did sound important. Let's just stay here a little longer." Even her protest sounds forced.

"They better get their asses in here soon." says Shirley rather harshly. She continues to describe the plans she had for tonight with Andre, met with "awws" and giggles in all the appropriate places from Annie and vague nods from everyone else.

All at once, every light in the room turns off (though there is still enough light coming in the room to see _very _clearly) and loud, ominous music bursts into life, the kind that is probably on the soundtrack of some bad 80s horror movie no one in the room is familiar with. Well, almost no one.

In what the group have become accustomed to calling his "movie commentator voice", Abed stage whispers from behind them. "Ghosts! Ghouls! Gremlins! Gremlins 2! These terrors are just a snippet of the horrible things which await you innocent students. Run! Flee this room now! Or your blood will be on your own hands…"

The lights go on, the music goes off, and Abed and Troy enter the room. Abed is holding a camera and films everyone as they're speaking, and Troy is holding the CD player, which he sets down on the table. Everyone stares back at them, thoroughly confused.

"This better be good." Pierce grumbles. "Do you know how late it is?"

"It's 4pm." Jeff snarks. As much as he tries, he can't bring himself to like these pointless theatrics, despite the fact that everyone else enjoys the hell out of them. Although he can't bring himself to ignore the fact that Annie has the cutest smile on her face right now- she looks like her birthday cake has just been brought in, like she's at a concert and the lights have just gone down.

Britta forces a laugh. "Ha ha, old people. Am I right?" She offers Jeff a high five he doesn't return. Her new and ridiculous insecurity about the age gap between her and Troy has really been getting on his nerves, in addition to the fact it only makes him feel more creepy about how his feelings for Annie.

Just as he begins to list to himself the reasons why she and him could never work, Annie herself, unable to contain her excitement for Troy and Abed's grand entrance, breaks the moment of awkward silence with a squealing "What's going on you guys?"

Abed takes his usual seat. "Me and Troy are making a horror movie and we need your help."

Troy also sits down. "We tried alone but ended up both lying on the floor drenched in ketchup for 6 hours." He looks wistfully into the distance. "We never did figure out who the murderer was."

Shirley looks at him like he's something Chang dragged out of the vent. "Well.. That sounds great, but I really need to be at home at this time of year." Her voice drops to a whisper. "All that candy turns my boys into _monsters_."

Jeff has no intentions whatsoever of joining them either. As much as he loves his friends, there are some things he just has too much pride for. Actually, maybe a lot of things. Besides, he already has plans for the weekend- a case of beer, the peace of his apartment, and maybe a late night call to some anonymous number in his phone that will help him briefly forget the grinning brunette across the table who just will not give up on him. "I think I speak for all of us, even Pierce, when I say I have far better things to do than spend my precious free time chasing down the Blair Witch."

Pierce, predictably, puts on a faux horrified expression and points at Britta. "Jeff, she's right there!"

She rolls her eyes in response. "Weak. How about instead of making a

'horror movie', you guys put some effort into unveiling the true terrors of the justice system? I read this tumblr post about-"

"The film is for the annual competition "Screamdale" and the prize is $2000," Abed cuts in. Annie and Shirley gasp, Pierce yells "What?!" (he's not shocked- his hearing really has been playing up these days), and Jeff finally looks up from his phone.

"World peace, hair grease." Britta gushes. "We are gonna be rolling in it!"

Hey, who is he to turn down some ridiculous cash? Besides, he knows how much Annie has been struggling for rent money these days- the other day he caught her selling an old bra to one of Starburns' creepier friends- and yeah, okay, this is happening. "Is it any wonder this place is such a toilet?" He shoves his phone in his pocket and leans in. "I'm listening."

Troy turns to Abed. "Let's not even _bother _with the intro next time."

Abed is lost in thought, and it takes a quick tap on his shoulder from his best friend to jolt him back to life again. "Jeff, your outdated reference has give me an idea." He points at each member of the group. "Camping? Camping? Camping?"

They are less than happy with the idea.

"You mean outside? For a whole night?" says Shirley.

"With you guys?" Jeff chimes in.

Annie, of course, is completely taken with the idea. "Come on! It could be fun! We could make a campfire, tell stories, toast marshmallows-"

"Sing kumbaya and give our souls to Jesus?" Jeff cuts in, getting him a look from Shirley that suggests it won't be long before his soul is headed that way and another from Annie that makes him stop short and wish, for the millionth time, that his default reaction to everything wasn't to act like a complete ass.

"Come on guys. Think of the prize." Troy pleads.

Jeff looks at Annie again, and she looks back at him, that fragile, hopeful look in her eyes that reminds him of how much he would do to keep her safe from disappointment, from ever being let down. He sighs, heavily. "Yeah. All right." The rest of the group, as though they were just waiting for his approval, murmur their agreement.

Abed turns to Troy. "I don't think we ever need any other argument."

* * *

After the group ends their meeting, and hurried plans for tomorrows camping trip are made, and sound bites from every member of the "Screamdale Seven" are recorded, Jeff finally gets his wish of returning home to his empty apartment. He goes to his fridge, opens a bottle of beer, sinks into his couch. But it's too quiet, and he can't get comfortable, or relaxed, or stop his mind replaying the way he and Annie had left things.

Everyone else had left, scurrying off with plans to buy new tents, barbeques, food for the trip. Jeff smiled at them, assured he had everything he would need at home. Annie lingered behind. She had, of course, sensed his hesitation, saw through his smirking façade to how unenthusiastic he really was about the whole thing.

"Hey," she had said, sliding into the empty seat beside him. He had his nose in his bag, pretending to search for his car keys, for his wallet, for any excuse to not have to do this. "Um, you know, you could be a bit more _excited _about this whole thing."

"What is there to be excited about? Sure, I want the money as much as the next Trobed, but it's hard to stay looking so good without my home comforts. And as much as it pains me to admit, I don't come across so well on camera." He half smiled at her. She almost returned it, then caught herself and sighed.

"Can you at least try to enjoy yourself?" She looked down at her hands, then, as if willing herself, slowly redirected her gaze to him. "I just... Sometimes it sucks being the only person who's expecting the best of things. Who wants other people to have more fun than she allows herself. So. Can you just try?"

It wasn't the first time she'd brought this up. Annie has always fought the hardest for him, and sure, he knows if it came to it he'd put her before anyone, but it never has. She doesn't know where she stands with him, and he's never had the courage to tell her.

"It'll be fun," he said, quietly. Annie smiled, properly this time.

"For what it's worth," she murmured, as much to him as the space around them, the dim quiet of the empty study room which seemed to be closing in on them, "your hair never looked good anyway."

He laughed, and she looked at him with those goddamn eyes, and he stopped laughing.

And now he sits alone, nursing a beer, wishing his feelings weren't so goddamn difficult, and complicated, and that there was some simple way he could get over this girl already. But that's impossible. She is impossible. And in a way he can't really explain he knows it's wrong, that they can't ever really be together- because she's young, and although she is one of the strongest people he's ever met, she's never truly been hurt by the world in the way he saw day in day in day out in his old life. There were hundreds of divorce cases and custody proceedings at his law firm, and hell, he even knows first hand the damage that two people in love will do to each other when they've been hurt enough, and he can't be the person to break Annie's spirit. He just can't. And there doesn't seem to be any way around that. There will always come a day when the person everyone depends on more than anything moves out.

* * *

So the next day, only slightly bleary eyed, he meets everyone at Troy, Abed and Annie's apartment. Annie answers the door, of course Annie answers the door, and when her eyes meet his her smile falters only for a second before she exclaims "Hi!" in a cheery tone that only slightly cracks.

He responds with a falsely overenthusiastic "Hey!"

"Everyone else is here," she says, still smiling. "I was.. kinda worried you weren't gonna come."

That stings. As much as he worried about how awkward this encounter- this whole damn weekend- was gonna be after what happened between them last night.. he never once considered not showing up. The fact that she thought he would hurts.

"Well, I said I would," he says, frowning.

"Right." She shakes her head quickly. "You did. Well, come in."

* * *

In the car, a beat up old mini van brandished "Hawthorne Wipes" in faded paint, Abed refuses to stop sticking his video camera in Jeff's face from the front seat.

"So when was the first time you heard of the Grizzly Witchgoose?"

"The what? Was that Icelandic?"

"The Grizzly Witchgoose is the legend we're going to investigate."

"Which you literally just made up. "

"Every horror film needs a villain, Jeff. Whether they exist or not is irrelevant. What matters to the audience is our reaction."

"Of course."

"So- When was the first time you heard of the Grizzly Witchgoose?"

"Well, I was sitting right here, and you asked me-"

Beside him, Troy sighs, and motions to Abed to point the camera in his direction. "I first heard of the Grizzly Witchgoose when my grandmother fell deathly ill," he recounts in a soft, low voice. "I was sitting in front of the fire playing with the old toys of my brother Lupin, who had drowned in the lake that past winter. I couldn't hear anything, but I knew she wanted to see me. I went to her room and sure enough, she was sitting upright in her bed, a single candle illuminating her wrinkly old face.

"'Troy,' she said to me, 'Once, when I was a little girl, I went out fishing, because I wanted a new pet. I was standing on the riverbank, enjoying the beautiful scenery, when I started to feel weird, and warm, like I'd just peed my pants. I looked behind me and I saw a woman, covered head to toe in… goose feathers. I looked at her, and she looked at me, and then she squawked and ran back into the woods.'

"I asked my grandmother why she was telling me this, and she said 'I have no idea what the hell I'm talking about. Who are you?' And… _died_."

Annie is sitting to Jeff's left, and though for most of the journey she's been deliberately (though not impolitely) ignoring him, at this she averts her gaze from the window and joins in the conversation. "Oh, give me a break. I've got a much better story than that." Her voice drops to a whisper and she leans forward, staring intently into the camera lens. "Once, these two hunters got lost in the woods…"

For the rest of the journey he sits in silence while she laughs at Troy and Abed's new rap ("the grizzly witch goose is on the loose/ check out her feathers/ and that sweet caboose"), and tries not to think about the fact he is close enough to feel her breathing, that every time he moves away slightly, creating a space between them, she finds a way to shift back so they're touching again, hip to hip.


	2. Chapter 2

After a long trek into the heart of the woods, involving incredibly safe and easy paths across fallen tree branches that nonetheless took an excruciatingly long time for some people (Pierce), seemingly endless and nonsensical rants about how contemporary pop music is destroying the environment (Britta), and futile plans to adopt a fleeing rabbit (Troy and Abed), the group comes to a stop.

"I guess here's a good a place to camp as any." says Jeff. He's been quiet for most of the walk- he knows that everyone else is having a good time, but something in him just won't let him join in. So he smiles and helps Shirley with her tent, and after they set up camp he passes around marshmallows and beer, laughs at all the appropriate times, without really feeling anything. He's focussing on trying to block out his emotions, even more than usual- God knows they've only ever screwed things up for him.

"So, are we gonna go look for this goose, or what?" asks Britta.

"We've entered her territory. It should only be a matter of time before she comes looking for us," replies Abed, camera in hand.

"What'll she do then?" asks Annie. It seems everyone but him has gotten swept up in Abed's ridiculous story.

"Kill us, probably," Abed replies. Everyone gasps. "Unless we can find a way to trick her into thinking we're of her kind. Some squawking, some egg-laying, she'll think she's one of us."

"That makes sense," says Shirley.

"That makes _no _sense," Jeff replies.

It's a long night.

* * *

The next morning, the group gathers around the diminished campfire, passing around boxes of cereal and yawning constantly. Everyone looks as rough and tired as you would expect after a night sleeping outside, even Jeff, who will admit that despite taking great care to maintain his usual handsomeness, looks extremely tired at best.

Troy yawns. "I miss home already."

"I miss my boys." Shirley says.

Annie's hair is ridiculously huge and frizzy and Jeff can't help but smirk, though she still looks as pretty as ever. "I miss my hair straighteners. I kind of realise what a great invention they are now- like, if we found a way to bring them back in time, people would be _so _grateful," she says.

"Yeah, if they were some filthy rich duchess with _literally _no problems." he replies, glancing up from his phone.

"Yeah, but why would you ever travel back in time just to talk to a man?" Britta snaps.

He pulls a mimicking face. Beside him Troy exaggeratedly counts silently back from three, and then-

"In an episode of Inspector Spacetime-" Abed says, quickly interrupted by the half-hearted calls of "shut up!" from everyone else in the group.

"So," Abed tries again, turning the camera on. "Did anyone hear anything last night?"

"Of course not." Jeff says. "There was nothing to be heard!"

"I'm pretty sure I heard something. The rustling of feathers, maybe a squawk or two…" says Troy.

"You sure that wasn't Abed?" Annie asks. "We both know he makes some _weird _noises at night."

"No, come to think of it I remember hearing something too. A lot of rustling, and weird, animal noises." says Shirley.

"So... animals." Jeff says.

"Well, I didn't hear anything," says Pierce.

"Nothing new there then." says Britta.

"Well, I say we spend some time looking around the surrounding area, then head back to the minivan." says Abed.

"And that's it?" Annie asks. "This doesn't seem like a very scary movie."

"We're not done yet," says Troy. "There could be all kinds of creepy stuff out here- bats, scarecrows, piles of rocks!"

"Okay," Jeff says. "Who's got the map?"

"I thought you did," Troy replies.

"No," he says carefully.

"I thought you did too," says Britta.

"Yeah," says Abed. "I feel like if any of us would have the map it would be you."

"I did have it," he says, "And then I gave it to Britta because she wanted to see how recent deforestation had affected the area, or whatever."

"Well I gave it to Abed," Britta says, "Because he wanted to see if there were any ancient temples containing priceless historical artifacts nearby."

"And then Troy wanted to check if the map was printed on the back of the Declaration of Independence." Abed says.

"Annie," Troy says, turning to her. "You wanted it for the cute illustrations of woodland creatures on the cover."

"Shirley, I showed them to you-"

"Then Pierce demanded it from me because he was the only one of us who hadn't had a turn!" Shirley says.

They all turn to stare at Pierce.

"Don't look at me," he says.

* * *

After an long argument that leaves everyone even more exhausted and pretty resentful, the group lapses into an uncomfortable silence.

"Jeff, stop wasting power!" Annie finally says to him. "Somehow getting reception is now the only chance we have of getting home!"

He looks up. God, sure, he has been on his phone a lot, but the thing isn't even _on_. He just needs something to pretend to _look at_, because with this much time with these people, he won't be able to hide the way he's been looking at Annie.

So stands up, shoves his phone in his pocket, puts on his lawyer voice, and booms: "Don't you think there's a sick kind of irony in that? What kind of society- nay, _people_- are we if we allow the course of our of lives to be determined by some flimsy piece of plastic? I, for one, think it's time we stood against this Orwellian dictatorship. I think… it's time we were _free_."

Smirking, he slowly slips his phone back out of his pocket while, of course, everyone is distracted by:

"Wow. That is so true." Britta says, gazing at him, genuinely awestruck. Beside her he notices Troy shifting uncomfortably. Turning to the group, Britta starts off on one of her passionate, ridiculous rants. "This one time I passed out at a Radiohead concert, and when I woke up in the back of this guy's van we got to talking, and he swore that the government-"

"UGH," everyone groans.

She smiles smugly. "You say that, but this lesbian couple I knew back in my anarchist days-"

"UGH!"

Defeated, she crosses her arms, sits back and frowns.

But they aren't gonna let him go that easy.

"Hey, Jeff, what are you doing with that thing anyhow?" Pierce asks, gesturing at his phone. He sighs loudly and puts it away for real. As though having a sudden great realisation, Pierce continues: "Are you looking at dirty videos? I tell ya, I got this great one that-"

"Well, that's my cue to leave," Jeff says. He gets up from his battered camping chair, walks far enough into the trees that he can't hear their voices. Closes his eyes and rests his head against a tree in a gesture of absolutely giving up. Lets the memory of two nights ago wash through him again, clings to every detail like he's trying to memorise a pattern that makes less sense the longer he looks at it. Comes up only with the taste of bubblegum lipgloss and the feel of his fingers tangled in her hair.

He stays there until Annie comes to find him.

"Hey," she says shyly.

"Hey."

"Are you.. okay?"

It's just a simple question, and since he _is _standing out here in the middle of the woods by himself the answer should be pretty clear, but right now he feels like she's asking him for so much more. For the answer to all the unsaid questions neither of them have ever been brave enough to ask.

"Listen," he starts, having no idea what he's going to say. For a moment he just savours the feeling of having her to himself for a while, of being the centre of her world just one more time before he has to set it on fire.

What he wishes he could say is simple- he wants her. He wants her. But no matter how much he wishes she could be his, it remains impossible. This thing that they have, this crazy messed up thing that started on the night she decided Greendale was home enough for her, has stayed too pure to either give up or explore, and now they've built a home around each other. Sure, the walls are crumbling and the paint is chipping and the gutter is hanging from the roof, but it's gotten them through more chaos, more hurricanes and floods and flames, than they would have ever thought possible. They've both been trying to convince themselves that they don't have anything that matters for too long now, and he can't keep it up for another year: going through the motions of something teetering at the edge of friendship while they cover their eyes and pretend they can't see how close they are to falling and losing everything.

"Listen. About last night. It.. it was a mistake."

Her face falls and he steels himself. He can't let his emotions get the best of him now- this needs to end.

"What?"

"We can't keep doing this, Annie! I don't _want _to keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Pretending we have something!"

She blinks, and moves several steps away from him. She turns her back on him for a few seconds before looking back, her face set in an expression he doesn't think he's ever seen before.

"Okay," she mutters. "Fine. Let's stop pretending."

"I didn't mean we never… I just don't want to-"

"Well, you're the one who kissed me!" she yells.

"I shouldn't have done that!"

"Yeah! I guess you shouldn't have!"

"What do you want me to do, apologise? You kissed me back!"

"Well I guess that was wrong of me too!"

He sighs. "I just can't see this happening, Annie. Not in a way that won't end up sucking for both of us."

She glares at him. "So you're trying to protect me? I'm not a child, Jeff. I know what I want."

"What?" he asks, regretting it instantly.

"Something real!" she says, exasperated.

"I can't give you that, Annie!"

She pauses for a moment, biting her lip.

"Okay," she says finally, "I guess that's it then."

"I guess that's it."

* * *

He watches Annie go, then waits for a few moments before returning to the group just as Pierce is finishing his story. Shirley is making the sign of the cross, Britta looks unimpressed, Troy seems to be thinking very hard about it, and Abed's mind is elsewhere (he hopes).

"And so in the end it turns out," Pierce says, wheezing with laughter, "there wasn't any spaghetti in the room after all!"

"You sure that's the end?" Jeff says sarcastically, sitting down. "No one _else _happened to walk in on them?"

Pierce screws up his face in thought and starts counting on his fingers.

"I heard something." Abed says.

Shirley gasps. "Is someone here to save us? Hello? Hello?!"

Everyone sits silently for a moment, straining their ears for the crack of a branch or the crunch of grass underfoot, anything that sounds like rescue.

"You know, there's nothing to be afraid of-" Annie starts to reassure Abed.

"I'm not afraid. Technically speaking Troy should be the one who's afraid."

"What?!" snaps Troy.

"If there _was _something out there…" Abed begins, "being both African American and a jock secures Troy as the most likely to die first. Next it would be Pierce, whose death will provide comic relief, followed by Britta, whose unpleasant demeanour will lead the audience to applaud her bitter end. Shirley is a nice enough character, and the poignancy of her death will remind people of the killer's true evil. Then Jeff dies saving Annie, but only after the two have engaged in some highly anticipated lovemaking. Annie kills the murderer, but at the price of her own life. Roll credits."

The group just sits there, staring wide eyed at him.

"Abed.. those are some dark thoughts." Shirley says hesitantly.

"That's so creepy, Abed!" exclaims Annie, clutching her heart.

"I always knew I would die young." says Troy, gazing into the distance.

"Yeah, so did I!" says Britta loudly, forcing a laugh. "So young. Such a waste." She looks down awkwardly.

"Wait- did you say I'm gonna die because I'm _black_?" says Pierce.

The group turn expectantly to Jeff, who is staring intently at Abed.

"So… what about you?"

"Guys like me don't star in movies, Jeff." Abed replies. "We work a lot better behind the axe-"

He sneezes, the kind of "manly" sneeze he must have picked up from Troy. The group collectively gasps.

"The action."

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

"Listen," Jeff says. "It doesn't matter if anything's out there, we need to get moving, map or no map."

"He's right," says Pierce. "No point in waiting here to be eaten by the Disney Bitchmoose."

"It's the Grizzly Witchgoose," says Troy. "And you better start showing her some damn respect."

"We'll just have to walk and pray we make it out alive," says Jeff. "I say we split up, so whoever gets out fastest can get help for everyone else."

"No way Jeff, I am not doing that," says Troy, horrified. "Splitting up is the worst mistake you can make in a horror movie, and I don't want to die yet! There's so much left to do- beat a dog in a skateboarding race, put a chameleon on something transparent to see if it turns invisible, walk Abed down the aisle..."

"O..kay. Fine. We'll stick together." Jeff says. "But we need to leave now"

"Um, Jeff, we still have to put away our stuff." Britta says, gesturing to their tents.

"Never mind that!" says Abed in a faux hysteric voice, pushing the camera into everyone's face. "There's too much at stake!"

"Let's just get going." Jeff sighs.


	3. Chapter 3

They get lost almost immediately.

After Jeff insists that if they keep walking in the same direction for long enough, they'll get out of the woods, they reach a wide stream with no way of getting across.

"Now what?" asks Pierce.

"We, uh, turn back and walk the other way," he replies.

"Jeff, I feel like you should have thought this plan through a bit more," says Britta, clutching onto Abed's arm.

"Well I didn't hear anyone else coming up with anything!"

"We're a million times more lost now than we were when we left camp!" says Annie.

"We're all gonna die out here!" screams Troy.

"They'll never even find our bodies," says Shirley.

"Will everyone please just calm down?" Jeff asks, exasperated.

"You're the one who lead us out here to our deaths!" yells Annie.

"We are _not _gonna die here!"

"That's what you want us to think! How do we know you're not planning to kill us all yourself?"

"That's insane!"

"You're insane, you maniac!" she screams.

"What is wrong with you?" he shouts.

They're the only two still yelling, and everyone is staring at them, Abed's camera focussed right on his face. "Abed, please, put that away." he says. For once Abed doesn't spout any of his "this film is bigger than us!" nonsense and complies, revealing his face, and he looks like he's seeing Jeff for the first time, and… Oh, damn it. He should have known Abed would have been the one to put it together, that any minute changes in he and Annie's strained, confusing relationship wouldn't be able to escape his perceptive, all knowing stares.

"Abed," he says quietly. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

They leave the rest of the group behind confused, waiting until they're definitely out of their earshot to look each other in the eye.

"You and Annie made out again," Abed says, and Jeff is taken aback by the way he says it, as though he were merely stating the time.

He sighs. No point denying it now. "Right."

"Last night," Abed continues, then shakes his head. "No. Two nights ago. In the study room."

"Right."

"I can't say I'm not surprised. In fact, for a while you guys seemed so perfect for each other I was sure you were secretly dating. But then I gave that up."

This startles him. "What? Why?"

Abed ignores him.

"I haven't been honest with everyone," he says.

"What are you talking about?"

"I can keep your secret if you'll keep mine."

Jeff looks at him suspiciously for a moment. "All right."

"I destroyed the map."

"What?! Abed, what the hell? Why would you do that?"

"This movie wasn't going anywhere and we needed a twist. I figured it'd be more interesting for us to try and figure out our own way back. Only.." He looks back at the rest of the group, and Jeff can see clearly that they've started arguing again. "I figured we'd be home by now."

"Abed.. You can't keep messing with stuff like this just for your stupid movies! We are so screwed!" He sighs. "But you're right. I don't know what's going on with these guys today." He turns to Abed. "I won't tell anyone. But you have to promise to get us home safely." He gives him a playful punch on the shoulder. "Come on."

As they head back to the group, their voices become clearer and he can hear their ridiculous argument.

"I know what I heard, all right?" Troy is saying.

"It could have been anything. It could be people coming to rescue us!" Britta is saying.

"No one's coming to rescue us!" yells Pierce. "The goose is gonna eat us all!"

"It's all Jeff's fault," mutters Annie.

"We're all gonna be murdered! The Grizzly Witch Goose, cannibal hillbillies, genetically engineered spiders- there are all kinds of evil out there. I've seen the movies!" says Troy.

"What's going on?" says Jeff, approaching the group.

"Troy heard a monster in the woods!" says Shirley.

"You guys!" Jeff says. "You're just creeping yourselves out! There is absolutely no such thing as the Grizzly Witchgoose! Abed made the whole thing up, remember?"

"He's right!" Shirley nods. "We're being crazy."

"Yeah," Troy forces a laugh. "It's just a story, right, Abed?"

Abed looks into the distance, refusing to meet anyone's eye, and stays silent.

"..Abed?"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. I was trying to figure out a way home from the direction of the sun and the way these browning leaves are lightly blowing in the wind." He pauses. "And Google Maps." He holds up his iPhone.

The group cheers.

"Yay!" says Annie. "We can get out of here now, right?"

"I think so. All the paths out of the woods are marked online and every tree is named after one of the employees of Facebook."

"Aw."

"So.. no more Grizzly Witchgoose?" says Pierce.

Abed frowns. "I feel like you guys have blurred the lines between fiction and reality even more than I do on an average weekday."

"Wait!" Troy says. "Does anyone else hear that, or am I going crazy?"

"I hear it," whispers Britta.

"Me too," says Shirley.

"What the hell is that?" asks Pierce.

"It sounds like a child laughing," says Annie quietly.

It does. And even Jeff will admit that it is terrifying.

The sound gets closer and closer, and the group goes silent, clutching onto each other in fear.

Suddenly there is a loud rustling and the group stares terrified as the Dean emerges from the trees, laughing hysterically.

Everyone screams.

"What are you DOING here?" Troy yells from where he's crouched behind Britta.

"Jeffrey! Oh my goodness! I'm so happy I found you!" The Dean, with tears of laughter and joy streaming down his face, collapses onto Jeff, who looks at him with reproach. "I've seen so many things, you guys! So many things…"

"How did you get here?" asks Annie incredulously.

"I just wanted to hang with you guys for one night!" the Dean screams. "I've… I've never been camping before!"

That gets him an automatic "aw!" from Annie and Shirley.

"I tried following the route you guys were supposed to be taking and I got lost! You guys weren't supposed to start a campfire unless you had a fully trained health and safety person present. And I took the courses! I missed Glee every week for a month!" He lets out an almost inhuman wail. "I missed Regional's!"

"Oh brother, not this again," says Britta.

"Our map got lost," explains Shirley.

"Or stolen," snaps Pierce, side-eying Troy.

"Mine got _ruined_!" screams the Dean. "I didn't mean… there was a really gorgeous photo of a hiker on it! His flannel shirt was _open!__"_With that, he collapses into tears.

Annie pats him on the back from as far away as possible. "You guys! We need to get home! I think he needs some kind of professional help."

"There's no use! We're gonna die out here!" shrieks the Dean. Then: "Oh wow Jeffrey, your skin looks amazing."

"I _know_! It's this new cream I got- it's so expensive that three of my richest relatives had to die before I could buy it."

Britta scoffs. "I'm sure hundreds of animals did too, but no one ever thinks of _them_."

"Beat it Britta, you had your turn," mumbles the Dean. He reaches out to stroke Jeff's face. "May I?"

"Well, I…"

"Oh lord." says Shirley, shaking her head fervently.

"Uh, can we go? I'm not gonna be murdered by some demon forest troll for _this_!" yells Troy.

With that, they begin on the long walk back. In twenty four hours, Jeff will be at home, well-rested and in clean clothes. He won't have to talk to anyone from the group for as long as he can avoid them. He won't have to force himself into awkward conversation with Annie, won't have to chastise himself every two minutes for making a remark that could be misconstrued as inappropriate, won't have to pretend to not notice the longing in her eyes and all the unspoken things hanging between them.

It's a prospect that should be appealing to him after this whole mess, but right now, he can't think of anything worse.

* * *

After the uncomfortable drive home, where Jeff ended up sitting next to Annie again and couldn't think of an excuse to ask to move, he's dropped off at home.

Being alone after such an intensive time of putting up with seven people is strange, and even though he's exhausted, just being alone in a silent, cold room makes him anxious and he doesn't sleep.

He tries drinking, watching some soccer game that's on, working out. Nothing makes him feel like the person he thought he was before today.

For maybe the first time he can remember, he needs advice from someone. He picks up his phone, now fully charged, and flicks through his contacts- "Acne, Big Boobs", "Asked Her Already, Said 'Some Other Time'", "Boring Waitress, Winks A Lot"- until he finds the one he's looking for: "Britta".

She takes forever to pick up, as usual, and when she does she sounds subdued, maybe a little upset.

"Hey," he says. "You get home all right?"

"Yeah," she replies. "You?"

"Fine."

There's a pause, and she seems to be stumbling around her apartment- he hears the clash of plates, things being put down, papers being shuffled. "What are you doing?" he asks.

"Tidying. Sorting things out- um, Troy's coming over tonight and my place is a mess."

"You're tidying your apartment for _Troy_? You realise how ridiculous that statement is, right?"

"So what's up?" she asks, ignoring his question.

Oh, right. He tries to back out, to think of some other excuse as to why he might have needed her, but before he can say anything she continues. "Is this about Annie?"

"Uh," he says. "No?"

"Come on, Jeff! You had a crush on me for a long time. I can spot the signs."

He'll have to ask her about those some other time. "It's that obvious?"

"To me, at least. You guys had a fight, huh?"

He sighs. "I guess."

"What happened?" she asks, urging him on.

"I told her that no matter what we were feeling, we couldn't act on it. It wouldn't work."

"Because you're scared? Because you don't want to get hurt?"

"Because I don't want her to get hurt."

Britta sighs. "Jeff, Annie's a big girl now. She can take care of herself."

"Yeah. That's what she told me."

"And now what?" Britta asks. "You're regretting letting her go?"

"No," he says, the word coming out with far more assurance than he feels. "It was the right thing to do. I just… feel bad about it."

"Ah. So you're coming to me to talk about your problems and feel better about them. Almost like I'm your _therapist _or something." He can almost hear her smirking through the phone.

"Yeah, whatever." He pauses. "So what do you think I should do?"

"Talk to Annie, Jeff. If the reason you're doing this is so you can hold on to your friendship, then hold on to it 'so hard your knuckles turn white! You guys will always be great together, even if it's just as friends."

He has to admit- it seems like Britta is actually on the right career path for once. "All right. Hey, Britta?"

"Yeah?"

"Troy doesn't care how old you are, and he doesn't care that your apartment is more messed up than the inside of Chang's brain. He likes you for who you are."

She pauses. "It's funny. That's almost exactly what Annie said when she told me how she felt about you."

* * *

The next day he has to go to Greendale for the screening of their movie, which Abed has apparently edited himself, not even allowing Troy a glimpse of the project before it's absolutely finished.

There's a projector set up in the study room, and what he guesses are all the other competitors are sitting in rows facing the screen. The rest of the group are seated in the front row, and he slips into a chair away from them as possible.

He's suffering through Neil and Vicki's film- it seems to involve them re-enacting some kind of Dungeons & Dragons scenario, with Vicki dressed as an elf queen and Neil slashing her with a cardboard sword- when Annie comes in. It isn't like her to be late for anything, and, _of course_, the only seat still left empty is beside him.

She sits down quietly, her arms and legs crossed, and doesn't look at him.

Throughout the next film- wherein Leonard reviews a sandwich that then somehow turns him into a savage werewolf- they sit together in silence. He thinks about what Britta said, about how he needs to rekindle their friendship before it expires altogether, but now isn't the time. Even a shrink as unqualified as Britta would be able to tell from Annie's body language that she wants nothing to do with him.

"And now, for the final film, from the Screamdale Seven!" says the Dean, seemingly recovered from the horrors of his weekend.

"If I may, I'd like to give a short introduction first?" says Abed, raising his hand. The Dean nods, and he gets up and stands in front of the screen.

"Our job was to create a scary movie, and we set off into the woods with hopes of capturing footage of a mythical and legendary monster. What we did discover, however, was far rarer and more wonderful. The filmmaker's duty is to record human nature and I feel that if nothing else, we've achieved that." He pauses, glancing over the audience. "Our job was to create a scary movie, and what could be scarier than falling in love?"

With that, Abed returns to his seat and the film begins.

The opening shot is Jeff, in the car on the way to the woods, and the camera catches him glancing at Annie, sitting next to him. He averts his eyes from her and at the same time hers flick onto him, their gazes never meeting, the timing always a millisecond off.

Then, they're at the camp, and there's a shot of Annie and Britta's shadows as they sit in their tent, and you can just make out Annie whispering "_It's just really complicated_" and "_I guess so" _and _"Sometimes I wish I didn't", _and this is interlaced with shots of him drinking a beer by the fire, looking like hell.

A shot of them by the stream, her screaming "_You're insane_!" in his face and his face falling.

Pieces of the conversation he had with Abed- _"You and Annie made out again." "Right."_- over some black and white footage of them in the study room, smiling at each other.

Another shot of them in the car, this time on the way home, each staring at their own hands.

Finally, there's a shot of Troy, wearing some kind of chicken suit and screaming into the camera for a good thirty seconds, and then the screen goes black. "That wasn't supposed to be in there," mutters Abed.

There is a moment of silence as the audience tries to make some sense of what they've just seen. It's broken by the Dean's exclamation of "What the hell? That was _terrible_. The worst thing I've ever seen. Leonard wins, all right? Everyone go home." Leonard laughs gleefully, Neil and Vicki burst into tears, and all the other contestants and viewers moan and talk amongst themselves as they begin to exit the study room.

But Jeff isn't paying attention to any of this. His eyes are fixed on Annie, who isn't moving, and sits with her body angled slightly away from him, staring at her hands. They both sit in silence until they're the only two people still in the room, waiting for nothing. In the same moment he finally opens his mouth, to say something, she gets up and storms out of the room, the door swinging shut behind her.

He sits there for few moments, feeling the weight of every moment leading up to this one pressing on his bones. It has all come down to this.

He surges out of his chair and goes after her.

* * *

He catches up with her outside the school, says her name for the first time in what feels like a decade, almost loses himself when she turns around with those big eyes that have always been his weakness.

"Annie," he says again.

"There's no point, Jeff," she says shakily, an answer to the unsaid question he doesn't think he'll ever be brave enough to actually ask. "You were right. It's easier if we just stay friends. If we just push everything aside and try to go back to how things were before."

He shakes his head. "No. I was wrong. I thought us being together would be impossible, but that was wrong too- it's being without you that's impossible. It's us just being friends that's impossible."

"But you said-"

"Forget everything I said. Please."

"So, what- you're saying you want to try? You wanna do this thing for real?" There's hurt in her voice, and disbelief, and something else that might just be hope.

"Annie, I'm an idiot, and I don't think there'll ever be a day when I won't think you deserve someone better than me, but I can give you everything I have and hope that it's enough. I want to try."

She opens her mouth as if to say something, to protest, but then something flickers across her eyes and she's kissing him. It's a kiss that isn't nerve-wracking, or guilty, or hungry- it's just a kiss. It's not the first breath of air after being underwater for too long, but it's lying in bed that night and marvelling at how easily your lungs can work without even trying. It's not a question, or an answer, but it's the white spaces between the words of a sentence. It's the first time they're speaking in a language they both understand.

She breaks away, and she's smiling, and she says "_look_", and for a moment he's lost, and then he gets it. It's the same place they were the night she almost left, the same spot outside the school where he first admitted to himself that he wanted her. He laughs, and it feels like the first time he's truly laughed in too long, and she starts laughing too.

She locks her fingers through his and he pushes a stray hair back from her forehead, and she says "_let's go back to your place_", and for a moment he's surprised at how bold she's gotten, but then he remembers that she has been growing and blossoming for years while he was too busy trying to protect her roots to notice. He slips his arm around her waist and it feels so _effortless. _As they're walking to his car their footsteps echo together on the ground, and it's a sound he doesn't think he'll ever get tired of.


End file.
